Operatic concert to benefit youth choir set for April 5

Warwick —On Saturday, April 5, at 7 p.m., soprano Nikki Li Hartliep, Metropolitan Opera tenor Michele Farruggia, baritone, conductor, and pianist James Rensink, and mezzo-soprano and Warwick resident Joan Tirrell will appear in concert at Christ Church, 20 South St., in Warwick Village as the stars of “BRAVI TUTTI! A Benefit Concert for Jubilate and Friends.” These singers have appeared in leading roles on the world’s opera and concert stages. For one night only, they will bring their voices to Warwick to raise needed funds for the growth of JUBILATE: The Community Youth Choir of Warwick. Hartliep has been closely identified throughout her career with the leading role in Madama Butterfly. Hartliep has concertized widely with the world’s most prominent orchestras in important venues from Carnegie Hall to Barcelona’s Gran Teatro Liceu. She was a winner of the 1987 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. Farruggia was born in Turin, Italy. He has appeared in leading tenor roles at the world’s major opera houses including The Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, Teatro San Carlo in Naples, Teatro Communale in Florence, and companies from Tel Aviv to Tokyo. Rensink has been seen at Lincoln Center as leading baritone, pianist, organist, composer, accompanist, and teacher. He has sung more than seventy leading operatic roles in twenty-five countries. In 2001, he received a special citation from The Library of Congress of the United States for his outstanding achievements. Tirrell is known to audiences throughout the U.S. for her acclaimed performances in concert and opera. She has toured the nation with New York City Opera and has appeared as soloist in concert and opera at Carnegie Hall, Dallas Opera, Saratoga Festival, Chautauqua Festival, Liederkranz Foundation (NYC), and NY Historical Society, among others. Tirrell has premiered new operatic works by contemporary composers at New York’s Playwrights’ Horizons and at Brooklyn College’s New Music Series, and was a finalist in the 1988 Luciano Pavarotti international Voice Competition. Joining the cast will be guest soprano Anne Barker who is presently the choir manager for Jubilate. Barker is an accomplished singer, who trained at Vassar College and lived for many years in Omaha, Nebraska, where she concertized widely throughout the mid- west, in secular and liturgical concert repertoire. She has recently re-located to Warwick, where she continues to perform locally and is a social worker at Warwick Valley Middle School. Audience members are invited to join the cast after the concert for a “Meet the Artists” reception at the church’s parish hall. Tickets to BRAVI TUTTI are $50, which includes the concert and the artists’ reception. Tickets are limited to 100 seats. Early reservations are strongly suggested and can be made by calling the concert hotline at 986-1774.